Indeed, it appears that open worlds are as popular as Star Wars licensed properties are about to get as “bigger” games become the norm as we transition into next-gen platforms and franchises aim to craft more immersive living, breathing worlds. Thanks to Disney buying up Lucasfilm, the Star Wars brand is being revived on all fronts, and gamers look to benefit from the new leadership.

With a promised trilogy of films and several rumored spinoffs in the works, Star Wars is about to take control of cinemas once again. To compliment that, Star Wars is also going to have a hefty presence in the gaming world with EA recently securing the franchise’s license for ten years. A DICE produced Battlefront reboot is on the way, but that’s not the only Star Wars project currently in the works.

As pointed out by Kotaku, EA Canada is working on an unannounced open world Star Wars game. According to a job listing on EA’s recruitment site, the developer is looking for an Animation Director “to help define and deliver on the vision for a major new next-gen open world action game.” So if you are looking for a job and have shipped 2+ AAA games as an Animation Director or Lead Animator, it might be worth sending a CV across.

Besides the fact that there is an open world game in development, there’s very little else to go on. We know that EA isn’t currently working on any direct movie tie-ins (cue sigh of relief), so players can scratch that off the list. It is also unlikely that the game will end up being a traditional-esque MMO since EA is already sustainingThe Old Republic, but that doesn’t mean the open world couldn’t be connected to a server like in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto Online or Ubisoft’s The Division.

It’s also likely that the game (or portions of it) will take place in the same time period of the new trilogy of films as the first wave of new triple-A Star Wars games won’t debut until around or after Star Wars: Episode VII hits theaters in fall 2015. Perhaps the game will bridge the gap between Episode VI and Episode VII, or perhaps it will go back to either the original or prequel trilogy time periods. It is just impossible to say at this point.

It isn’t entirely clear if this game is solely in the hands of EA Canada or if the studio are just being outsourced for some extra support. It has been rumoured recently that Dead Space aficionados Visceral Games are working on a Star Wars title and this could very well be that same project. EA Canada is mostly known for their sports titles FIFA, NBA Live and NHL so an open world action game would be a major change of pace for the studio.

Are you excited about the prospect of an open world Star Wars? Where would you want it to take place and in what time line? Let us know below.

How bout this…. Just make a star wars galaxies you idiots! That was the best game and everyone loved it… People still talk about it and wish it was still around… I dont want to play the free emulator either i want swg legit again!!! Please stop being dumb… Swtor is so dumb…

They wont do that because EA/BioWare have exclusive rights to make ANY and ALL Star Wars based games as per an agreement with Disney. So with the sale of LucasArts, that has killed any chance of SWG ever coming back. I love SWG but to be realistic they wont bring it back which is sad and I hope Disney chokes on it

I’ve heard it’s supposed to be a Han Solo or Fett game or something like that (still cool but it breaks my heart) what I want from Star Wars is, first of all, to live in the universe. Seeing as that is not possible, the next best thing would be to create a character to live in the universe. It would be amazing if this game spanned the time near the end of the mandalorian wars and the Jedi civil war. Playable planets could be maybe Tatooine (bigger next gen version of anchorhead city and dune sea) Nar Shadaa, Manaan (bigger Ahto city) Dantooine (jedi enclave) Korriban (Sith Academy) Taris, Kashykk, and onderon (Iziz city). The game could start with a cutscene of revan defeating mandalore at the battle Malachor V, and then revan and malak go to the outer rim. The player will then create their character, and choose from race, gender, and class. This could affect the starting planet. For example, race: wookie could start on Kashykk while class: smuggler could start on nar Shadaa. Classes could be: Force sensitive, Soldier, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, or trader. (Players can have the ability to learn force sensitivity if that story is more appealing). Players can later choose whether they participated in the mandalorian wars or not through a dialogue option. Force sensitives can choose their faction by going to the sith academy (dark side points) or the Jedi enclave (light side points) Jedi and sith alike can advance through the ranks. when they are training Jedi recieve the title of Palawan and sith recieve the title of acolyte. When jedi are fully initiated they recieve the title of the Jedi subclass they choose at the beginning of the game (Jedi Consular, Jedi Sentinel, or Jedi Guardian) When sith are fully initiated they recieve the same title except for it says dark jedi instead of Jedi. Both sides have prestige classes that can be reached. Jedi: Jedi Master, Jedi watchmen, Jedi Weaponmaster. Sith: Sith Lord, Sith Assassin, Sith Marauder. As a sith you can advance until you are known as Darth … “Whatever your name is” and normal people will acknowledge that and fear or respect you. Lightsaber battling will be almost like assassins creed where you must counter and strike back. Harder foes will counter back and you will have to react quicker to parry their advances. Force powers that render an opponent or player immobile may be parried also and will often be by harder foes. Based on player or opponent skill level, damage based, non-stunning force powers (such as lightning) do less damage to players with more force defense stat. Stats can include: Melee [sword, lightsaber] (attack and defense) Blaster (attack and defense) Force (attack and defense) Reactions, sneak, armor.
There can be a non-combat skill set with: Persuade, Computer Use, Security, Repair, Treat Injury, and Demolitions. Players can play alongside the story of revan in first Knights of the Old Republic game and can choose whether they want revan to become a sith again or stay a Jedi. The story will include characters such as Canon Revan, Bastila, Malak. If the character sides with the republic, they can train alongside revan when he had to relearn the force. (Unfortunately the player cannot train alongside revan with the sith because only one prospective sith can take the final test and that’s how revan found the star map so he could get to malak but it will be before revan returns to the sith academy) there could be massive land battles that the player could stumble on and join. It could be Sith vs. Republic, Jedi vs mandalorian (Dantooine), gang vs gang on nar Shadaa. there could be a renown system like in fable 2 that tells you how famous you are and whether people fear or love you. You can get married and have kids and interact with citizens. You can buy property anywhere you want or you could buy a starship to live in. I could probably add or replace some planets and possibilities, what do you guys think?